Optolong Filters

[centroid]

Which of the Optolong range of filters is best suited for use with a OSC CMOS camera.

I am thinking the L-Pro?

I do not have the enthusiasm, or the time to go back to Mono, and LRGB imaging, as I used in my previous astro imaging days.

So its OSC now, or not at all.

Edited January 29, 2022 by centroid

[Elp]

Depends on your environment and what you're imaging. In terms of filtering from moderate to more intensity it goes L-PRO, L-Enhance, L-Extreme. I've got the former two and only tried the l-enhance, note you will have to expose for slightly longer to get a similar result to not using a filter. And none of them will work very well against LED light pollution as that emits in broadband.

FYI, I went the opposite and went mono and kind of understand your stance on OSC, still got my DSLR for that though.

[centroid]

Thanks for your input Elp.

In my previous imaging days (pre 2014), I lived in a rural village, without any street lighting,  and never needed any form of LP filter.

Since then, we have moved house, Still in a village, but a much larger one, with street lighting, albeit these go off a 23.30.

However, there is still some residual sky glow from the lighting on the A12 trunk road, which passes close to the village. These lights were replaced some years for a design that projects the light downward, and not outward and upwards. Albeit they still present a degree of light pollution, especially if there is any moisture in the air. 

That said, the light pollution isn't that bad, and certainly nowhere near town or city levels, but I think a filter would be advantageous just to 'clean up' what there is. So maybe the milder of the two filters would be adequate.

[centroid]

Just a thought, but thinking back to pre 2014, I saw many reports/complaints of halos around bright stars, from people using LP filters.

Is this still the case I wonder, or have things improved?

[Stuart1971]

The L-Xtreme is the best of the three, and works really well with all light pollution and street lights as it has a very narrow band pass in just Ha and Oiii, the L-enhance is a much wider 35nm band pass so not quite as good, and the L-pro is just basically a broadband LP filter….👍🏼

[Stuart1971]

1 minute ago, centroid said:

Just a thought, but thinking back to pre 2014, I saw many reports/complaints of halos around bright stars, from people using LP filters.

Is this still the case I wonder, or have things improved?

You can get this with very fast scopes below around f4 I believe…

[centroid]

2 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

The L-Xtreme is the best of the three, and works really well with all light pollution and street lights as it has a very narrow band pass in just Ha and Oiii, the L-enhance is a much wider 35nm band pass so not quite as good, and the L-pro is just basically a broadband LP filter….👍🏼

Thanks Stuart.

[Stuart1971]

I just got my L-Xtreme from here, very good price £167 and fast delivery with no fees…..😉

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003195152373.html?spm=a2g0o.9042311.0.0.5fc94c4dFFN7s0

[centroid]

2 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

You can get this with very fast scopes below around f4 I believe…

I am imaging at f/5.6, so hopefully not a problem 🤞

[Stuart1971]

1 minute ago, centroid said:

I am imaging at f/5.6, so hopefully not a problem 🤞

No, should be fine, I am at f5.3 and seems fine…👍🏼

[centroid]

I think I just have to decide between the L-Pro and the Enhance, as I guess by town/city dweller standards, my light pollution is low.

I am fortunate to reside 5 miles away from the county town of Ipswich, and thank goodness some 15 miles from the light pollution hell that is the Container Port at Felixstowe. The light pollution there, has to be seen to be believed, and its 24/7, 365 days a year.

[Stuart1971]

1 minute ago, centroid said:

I think I just have to decide between the L-Pro and the Enhance, as I guess by town/city dweller standards, my light pollution is low.

I am fortunate to reside 5 miles away from the county town of Ipswich, and thank goodness some 15 miles from the light pollution hell that is the Container Port at Felixstowe. The light pollution there, has to be seen to be believed, and its 24/7, 365 days a year.

You might be quite surprised how bad it actually is, I live in a rural country location and no major sources of LP for over 30 miles, but I am still just bortle 6…🤔

[Stuart1971]

I would not bother with the L-pro, as it’s just a bog standard LP filter, you can get just as good ones cheaper….👍🏼

[iantaylor2uk]

I have found the L-enhance filter is very good but you will need longer exposures than with no filter.

[centroid]

I think I will go in the middle, with the 2" L enhance.

Interesting 🤔, 168.76 from Ali Express, and £166 from FLO, plus delivery, which I think is £1.95 1st Class Post = £167.95, so 81p cheaper from FLO.

Amendment:- Just checked on the FLO website, and its £5.95 delivery, not £1.95. So £171.95, thus £3.19 dearer than Ali Express 😉

Edited January 30, 2022 by centroid
Updated

[Stuart1971]

2 hours ago, centroid said:

I think I will go in the middle, with the 2" L enhance.

Interesting 🤔, 168.76 from Ali Express, and £166 from FLO, plus delivery, which I think is £1.95 1st Class Post = £167.95, so 81p cheaper from FLO.

Amendment:- Just checked on the FLO website, and its £5.95 delivery, not £1.95. So £171.95, thus £3.19 dearer than Ali Express 😉

It’s actually £123 with VAT fees from Aliexpress….

[Stuart1971]

My mistake, that was with a voucher I got for buying two from them already…👍🏼

Edited January 30, 2022 by Stuart1971

[centroid]

👍

[centroid]

I have now ordered a 2" Optalong Enhance filter from FLO.

[recceranger]

On 30/01/2022 at 10:46, Stuart1971 said:

The L-Xtreme is the best of the three, and works really well with all light pollution and street lights as it has a very narrow band pass in just Ha and Oiii, the L-enhance is a much wider 35nm band pass so not quite as good, and the L-pro is just basically a broadband LP filter….👍🏼

I second this. I primarily use the L-Xtreme for nebula etc, with the L-pro being used for broadband DSO such as galaxies and clusters. Both are great, however, exposure time needs to increase while using. My setup includes using a C9.25 and ZWO533 camera (with a 0.63 reducer) to capture galaxies etc. My back garden is flooded with light pollution, so I use the L-pro. during my initial imaging sessions my settings for lightframes were; 180 sec, Gain 150 at around 20 - 30 images. The combination of the filter and long focal length resulted in not nearly enough light captured. As I recall, when I attempted to calculate/detect stars using DSS, it was only picking up around 20 - 30 stars, even with the slider at 2%!. I'm now using 300sec exposures and a lot more of them which demands some precise tracking. The L-Xtreme is primarily used with my WO Z61 and although it also requires longer exposures, it's a lot more forgiving than the C9.25/L-pro combo.